this, Stiles. That takes trust.”
“I know, and I understand, especially after that dink Hugo. I’ve got your back, no matter what, Kitten. If you need me to back up you and your visions, I’m there.”
I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. “Same goes for me. Now, are we going to watch a Christmas tree lighting or what?”
He laughed at my enthusiasm, knowing full well I loved this part of the Marshmallow Hollow annual festivities. “Go find Hobbs. You should experience his first time seeing it with him, not your boring best friend.”
The mayor had just taken her place on the gazebo by the big switch to light the tree. “Come with me,” I encouraged with a smile. “We’ll all watch together.”
I pulled him along behind me, back to where I’d left Hobbs, who had his phone camera ready to take video of the event for Uncle Monty and Darling.
I scoped out the crowd, looking for familiar faces, and happened to see Westcott Morgan and Abraham Weller. Not together, though those two birds should definitely flock together.
No, they were each in different areas. One forced to write about the mundane local Christmas tree lighting, the other probably praying someone was bonked on the head by one of the Christmas ornaments and got a concussion he could turn into a lawsuit.
Mayor Bader grabbed the mic, a screeching sound emitting from it before she spoke, taking my mind completely off those two slugs. “All right, Marshmallow Hollow, are you ready for the fifty-second annual Christmas tree lighting?” she asked, her voice tight with excitement.
We all cheered and whistled our encouragement as the crowd began the countdown. Happy faces shone under the gazebo lights, children danced in excitement, the air was filled with the scent of the ocean, freshly baked cookies and hot pretzels.
I guess I hadn’t forgotten how much I’d missed this, so much as I’d set it aside in favor of trying to begin a life in a big city. Maybe I’d only tucked it away when I lived in New York. Seeing my friends and employees so joyful, smiles wreathing their faces, I was glad I’d come back. And I was also glad to be sharing this moment with Hobbs.
“Three, two, one!” everyone yelled.
Mayor Bader flipped the switch, illuminating the tree—and it was glorious. Fifty feet of green fir, covered in lights and ornaments the size of soccer balls.
“Now, that’s nothing like back home,” Hobbs murmured with vivid wonder in his tone and on his handsome face as he smiled at everyone around him, cheering and laughing. “It’s like out of a movie.”
“It’s really something, isn’t it?” I said with a happy sigh, enjoying a brief moment of relief from everything—my uncle’s surgery, the worry he’d be hunted down for what he might know, and the tragic death of Gable Norton.
Hobbs gazed down at me, and while a melancholy “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” played, the dulcet tones of Karen Carpenter in my ears and the lights from the tree shone down on us, he cupped my cheek and bent down to kiss me…and I rose up on my tiptoes to meet his lips.
It was the briefest of kisses, certainly appropriate for a PDA, but it did things to my toes and my stomach I can’t quite put into words. Things I’d never experienced in this way before.
When he pulled away, he smiled down at me, and I got lost in the moment and the warmth of his eyes.
So lost, I almost didn’t hear someone scream. Like, really let one rip—loud and long—making us all turn to see what the commotion was about.
Right there, in the middle of the crowd of people at the square, a woman collapsed, half-dressed, her remaining clothing torn.
Just crumpled into a heap of tattered limbs and snow.
Both Hobbs and I went running toward her as the crowd backed away. I was the first to get to her, falling to my knees and pulling off my jacket to cover her half-naked body.
Dear Goddess, she was a mess. Her hair was glued to her face, covering her eyes, her body bruised and battered and so very fragile, it hurt to look at her. And her feet were bare and torn to shreds.
“I’ll call nine-one-one!” Hobbs yelled over the shrieks of the crowd.
In mere seconds, my fellow townsfolk were taking their coats off to cover her; one mother offered her baby’s blanket.
I hauled her up next to me, shivering from the wind that picked up and the